Greg Berlanti Might Direct ‘The Flash’

Right on the heels of the breaking news that the Dark Knight team is handling the Superman reboot comes this new exclusive from our friends over at IESB claiming that writer/director Greg Berlanti (Dirty Sexy Money) is strongly considered by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. as the director for the big-screen adaptation of The Flash.

If you don’t know Berlanti’s name, he has been in the TV business for awhile, either writing, producing, creating and consulting on shows like Dawson’s Creek, Everwood, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone and Brother & Sisters.

‘That’s an impressive TV resume, but what does it have to do with a comic book movie?’ you may be asking. Well, if you aren’t up to speed, you may not remember that Berlanti is one of the writers of the Green Lantern movie (he co-wrote it with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green), and at one point, early on, Berlanti was attached to direct Green Lantern, before DC/WB ultimately decided on Casino Royale director Martin Campbell.

Despite losing out on Green Lantern, Berlanti was apparently a strong team player during the pre-production process, and that hard work has not gone unnoticed. He isn’t yet confirmed for The Flash director’s chair, but is said to be “the leading contender” for the job.

Berlanti

Back during Comic Con 2009, I spoke to DC Comics writer Geoff Johns (who is now a top exec at DCE) about The Flash movie. Johns has been writing The Flash comic book since 2000 and was responsible for bringing back Silver Age Flash Barry Allen and generally making the character as popular as he did Hal Jordan when he took over the Green Lantern series. At the time of Comic Con, Johns had recently turned in a treatment for The Flash movie and had a little bit to share about his vision:

“We’re caught up in a world that’s obsessed with speed these days. Texting, faster downloading… We’re always looking for ways to speed things up, it can be hard to slow ourselves down.”

Certain other comments led me to believe that Barry Allen will indeed be the Flash we see on the big screen and that at the core of the film will be Allen’s struggle with the same “speed force” that provides him with his quick-footed power. No word since then about whether or not Johns’ treatment will be the basis for the script, or who the writer would be. As for who might be playing the Flash? We have some early casting picks – check them out and see if you agree.

I’m sure a lot of us are not familiar enough with Greg Berlanti’s onscreen work to know for sure whether or not he’d make a good director for The Flash, but the man certainly seems to have paid his dues and in that sense, who am I (or you) to say he’s not worthy?

DCE is dropping major announcements left and right these days, so stay tuned; I’m sure we’ll be hearing further details about their plans for The Flash sooner before later. Based on some of our polls lately, a lot of you are eager to see the Scarlett Speedster race to the screen.